Linux - HardwareThis forum is for Hardware issues.
Having trouble installing a piece of hardware? Want to know if that peripheral is compatible with Linux?

Notices

Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.

You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!

Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.

Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.

Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

I need to replace my existing DVD recorder. I discovered that the recorder (Plextor PX-740A) I bought 2 years ago refuses to burn DVD-R DL and DVD+R DL (double-layer) discs under Linux (and also under Windows XP). Attempts at updating the firmware, even with Windows, failed miserably (See fedoraforms post for details).

I searched the HCL for this information, but could not find any reports of anyone actually successfully and repeatedly burning dual-layer/double-layer media under Linux.

Which programs did you use? Any special hacks or command line option tweaks did you have to use? (Please provide specific versions for these programs too).

Also, did you have to update the firmware on the drive? If so, how did you update the firmware (under a DOS boot disc, were you forced into upgrading the firmware using Windows XP, did you update the firmware under Linux directly, etc.)?

Please also provide full manufacturer and model names and/or URL's to the web describing the specific hardware that you used.

You need to buy a burner that specifically says it is compatible with DL, or else you simply can't do it.

Right, I know that, but see below:

Quote:

Originally Posted by MS3FGX

Dual layer support is a function of the hardware, not the OS.

Well, not the OS, per se. And there is more to the burning process than the hardware: the user-mode software that reads and writes to the drive, such as K3b, needs to at least know about the drive's double-layer capability and media capacity, and ability to handle large files. As proof of this, as recently as February of last year, K3b had a problem with very large files: Reference K3b v1.0.4 release note:

K3b now silently allows the burning of files bigger than 4 GB if an appropriate version of genisoimage or mkisofs is installed ("silently" means that I did not introduce any new messages)

So there must be other issues not just due to the drive that I'm also interested in hearing about as a side-effect of discussion. What I'm after really is which recent DVD recorders do people use successfully, under Linux, to burn up to the limits of double-layer DVD media (8GB). And also if a firmware upgrade was done and how it was done (using Linux, Windows or DOS).

growisofs/mkisofs support dual layer, so therefore all Linux burning applications support dual layer, you just need to buy the drive. That line on the K3B site takes about how it now more elegantly handles burning DL discs, which is a good thing.

Optical drives are generic ATAPI devices, a burner from one brand won't work any different than a burner from another, they are all the same. The only difference you might run into are proprietary functions like LightScribe, but even that is now functional under Linux (though not very cleanly, last time I checked). But 99.8% of burners will be compatible and you don't really have to give it any thought when you buy one, just get the cheapest one you can find (because they are all built poorly anymore, and will all break within 2 years); the small percentage of burners that are not immediately compatible are the ones that break from the spec to cut corners, which is completely an issue on their end. If you are worried about that unlikely scenario, then just stick to the well known names in burners like LG, Lite-On, etc, etc.